With moderate fluctuations taken into account, the variable plans is still cheaper. Our bill is approximately $10 more in the winter, but we’d still save $138 over the course of a year. It’s more a question of whether you can roll with the punches of an unpredictable rate, or would sleep easier knowing your bill is going to look the same month after month.

Fund portfolios are actively managed, and holdings may change daily. Holdings are reported as of the most recent quarter-end. Holdings in the Global Resources Fund as a percentage of net assets as of June 30, 2014: Microsoft (0.00%), Amazon.com (0.00%), Expedia.com (0.00%), Boeing (0.00%), General Electric Co. (0.00%), United Technologies (0.00%), Landsvirkun (0.00%), Alcoa Inc. (2.42%), Rio Tinto Alcan (0.00%), Century (0.00%).
uSwitch 2018 customer ratings are based on an independent YouGov survey that was conducted between 7 November and 1 December 2017. A total of 17,313 UK energy customers were asked to rate their energy supplier on overall satisfaction, transfer process, value for money, customer service and how likely they were to recommend. We equally weighted those five scores across suppliers with at least 50 responses to create an average supplier rating for each.
Every state that is deregulated requires their electricity providers to be licensed or certified by the state in order to sell electricity. Your state’s public utility commission website keeps an up to date list of these electricity providers so that you can be certain that you are purchasing electricity from an authorized electricity provider. All of the electricity providers represented on ElectricityPlans.com are authorized electricity providers in the respective states where they do business.
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As of April 2014, 16 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have deregulated electricity markets. Along with aforementioned Maryland and Texas, electricity deregulation is current in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Seven additional U.S. states began the process of electricity deregulation but have suspended efforts: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wyoming.[5]
Deregulation seeks to drive down costs and spur innovation by breaking up energy monopolies. In their place, two separate entities take care of 1) generation and 2) distribution. Electric Generation Suppliers (EGS) create electricity and set their own prices for consumers. Electric Distribution Companies (EDC), a.k.a., your local utility company, bring that electricity to your home.
Still, we like that if you choose to re-up with FirstEnergy again at the end of your initial term, you won’t have to worry whether you’re enrolling at an expensive time of year. First, since it offers just two options, constant for years, its prices are set with the long haul in mind. Second, since the electricity grid in Pennsylvania is more taxed during winter than any other season (space heating accounts for 50 percent of household electricity consumption in PA; air conditioning just three percent), signing up in summer means prices won’t be temporarily inflated.
With moderate fluctuations taken into account, the variable plans is still cheaper. Our bill is approximately $10 more in the winter, but we’d still save $138 over the course of a year. It’s more a question of whether you can roll with the punches of an unpredictable rate, or would sleep easier knowing your bill is going to look the same month after month.
In some deregulated markets, the local utility company can offer electric service at a standard service rate which is regulated by the state. In other deregulated markets, customers can receive electricity from a default electricity provider that may be related to their local utility. These are options for customers who don’t want to shop for an electricity plan and explore the possibility of a lower electricity bill.

Maryland residents are now able to choose who supplies their electricity. (Customers of municipal electric systems and some rural cooperative systems are the exceptions - see "Areas not participating.") Your local utility, now called your electric company, will still deliver the electricity to your home, but you can choose another company to generate the electricity, if other companies are making an offer in your area.

That means that customers in Houston paid an average of $5,500 more for electricity over a 14-year time span beginning in 2002, according to the group that buys electricity on behalf of municipal governments in Texas. The calculation, which uses data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, assumes monthly electricity use of 1,300 kilowatt hours.